After determining she didn’t have enough votes in support of a temporary suspension of the ban on gays in the military, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand tells The Daily Beast she has secured the commitment of Senate Armed Services Committee to hold hearings on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” this fall. It would be the first formal re-assessment of the policy since Congress passed it into law in 1993.Finally, Action on Gay Soldiers [Daily Beast]

A good move. When we publicly display our stories, we always, always, always win. The other side's only arguments on in this messy mess hall food fight are glaringly steeped in bias, discrimination, and the offensive suggestion that closets can and should accommodate both combat boots and human beings. As we saw with last year's House committee hearing, there is almost no way that Elaine Donnelly or her cohorts can benefit from this sort of moderated matchup.

So we're gonna curb our cynicism and applaud Sen. Gillibrand for the commitment. If she's playing electoral politics in order to increase her 2010 chances, then at least her game is a gainful one.